Judge Paul Engelmayer dismissed the department’s claim that the documents would reveal “meaningful new information,” calling it “demonstrably false” and “disingenuous.”
A federal judge in New York on Monday rejected the U.S. Justice Department’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts from the criminal investigation of Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for grooming underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein.
Judge Paul Engelmayer dismissed the department’s claim that the documents would reveal “meaningful new information,” calling it “demonstrably false” and “disingenuous.” He suggested the request was driven more by public relations than transparency.
“The Court’s review confirmed that unsealing the grand jury materials would not reveal new information of any consequence,” Engelmayer wrote, adding that the testimony amounted to “garden-variety summary” statements from two law enforcement agents.
Citing a 1973 precedent, the judge noted that secrecy in grand jury proceedings is “older than our Nation itself” and said the Justice Department failed to meet exceptions for disclosure under federal law.
The request followed criticism of the Trump administration for not releasing Epstein’s investigative file. Similar motions in Florida and another in Manhattan concerning Epstein remain unresolved. Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial. Maxwell was convicted in 2021.